Adults with language-learning disabilities: new challenges and changing perspectives

As children and adolescents mature into adult life, their language-learning disabilities continue. Consequently, the view that language-learning disabilities are limited to the school years must be changed. This article reviews our understanding of adults with language-learning disabilities. Ecological and context-specific perspectives are presented to provide a framework for understanding the chronic and persistent nature of these disabilities across the lifespan. Descriptors of language-learning disorders in adults are provided that focus the clinician on observable behaviors to guide the process of assessment and intervention planning.